WVU looks at safety plans

Issue Date:Wednesday April 18, 2007
Section: HeadLine News Section
By Jon Offredo, Staff Writer

What if it happened here?

Would West Virginia University be prepared for a horrific incident such as the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech on Monday?

The answer is yes, University officials say.

"Blacksburg is a lot like Morgantown, and if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere," said West Virginia University spokeswoman Becky Loftstead.

"In light of this, we are going to review the emergency plan and look at it intensely to make sure that all of our 'I's are dotted and 'T's are crossed to make sure any event like this is covered," Loftstead said.

Prior to the massacre in Blacksburg, WVU officials were in the process of finding vendors to provide University-wide text messaging services in the event of an emergency, Loftstead said.

Currently, the University would broadcast announcements on MIX and forward them to WVU.edu e-mail addresses as it does when canceling class during the winter.

Officials were also looking into the idea of large messaging centers that would be visible in high traffic areas.

Dr. Dan Della-Giustina, a WVU professor and expert in public safety, also suggested the implementation of a University-wide alarm system.

"My thought is to develop an air raid-like signal, similar to the ones during World War II," Della-Giustina said. "It would sound a siren, when the students would hear this, regardless of where they were, they would know to stay put and be on lock down.

Yet, despite new proposals, University officials have always had a plan for the instant disaster were to strike WVU.

If WVU were faced with the same situation that arose in Blacksburg, students would be urged to remain where they were and focus on protecting themselves.

In what Roberts called an active shooter situation, DPS members have been trained in a program called "Active Shooter," and a team is also trained in Rapid Response. To correspond with the DPS response, Morgantown Police Department, West Virginia State Police and Morgantown Fire Department also became involved in the situation.

In the Virginia Tech scenario, students and families were reunited at the alumni center in Blacksburg, but if the situation were to arise in Morgantown, that may not be the best protocol.

"If you look at WVU, there is no single road. We are an expansive town," Roberts said. "We work with Morgantown Police Department, and that is a benefit, to say that there is a central location is not what we are advocating."

The ideal plan would be for students and faculty to stay in place, secure doors and to wait for the green light.

After a traumatizing event, students are likely to need some kind of counseling to deal with the shocking aftermath.

"It's crisis counseling, and always you need to assess the student's concern, is there some sense of immediacy, friend or family involved," said Dr. Peter Kahn of the Carruth Center. "With any situation where there's been some kind of a loss, you want to sit with the person and let them talk freely and open up about it."

jon.offredo@mail.wvu.edu

--

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27578">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27578</a>

Jon Offredo

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

Sports for the soul

Issue Date:Friday April 20, 2007
Section: Sports Section
Patrick Southern, Sports Writer

Sometimes it takes a life-changing event to shake you to your very core and remind you what really matters.

For the countless people who are suffering in ways that defy comprehension following the stunning events at Virginia Tech, that lesson came in the toughest form possible.

While I&#39;m fortunate that I don&#39;t have to mourn the loss of any personal friends or family, I sincerely feel the pain of those who do.

As DA Sports Editor Tim Tassa eloquently said in his Tuesday column, such tragedies "make sports seem so petty, so irrelevant."

It&#39;s cliche to say so, but it&#39;s true. I know that by noon on Monday, I cared a lot less about how my Boston Red Sox would fare in their Patriots Day game against the Angels than I had when I woke up.

In the wake of the campus shooting, the Hokies called off the remainder of their spring football drills and canceled all sporting events scheduled for the following days.

These moves were in the best interest of all involved. At that point, no one needed the distraction of competition when the hearts and minds of all of those at VT were elsewhere.

After all, athletes and coaches deserve the chance to grieve too.

However, the moratorium on athletics at Virginia Tech ends today, when the school&#39;s baseball squad hosts Miami.

To most, this event will mean little in light of the heartache the community has suffered. After all, college baseball games go on every day nationwide at this time of year.

But in this case, the ping of the aluminum bat and the unmistakable snap of a solid fastball against a catcher&#39;s mitt will be the first sound of life beginning to return to normal in Blacksburg.

While it&#39;s true that tragedy makes us realize how meaningless the wins and losses of our teams really are, it&#39;s every bit as true that athletics are a significant part of our lives.

Sporting events are more than just a good excuse for people to get together and drink a few beers while debating the merits of blitzing off the edge on third and long.

No, in times like this, we&#39;re reminded that sports are so important to us because they&#39;re a sure sign of normal life in abnormal times.

It&#39;s that importance that made renditions of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America" take on such added meaning at baseball games following the attacks of 9/11.

And it&#39;s the sense of unity and togetherness that sports foster that led the thousands of mourners at Virginia Tech&#39;s memorial convocation Tuesday to ditch button-down shirts and dress slacks in favor of their favorite maroon and orange Hokie T-shirt.

When those in attendance at that same service struggled to express themselves beyond their tears, they went back to the same cheers that echo through Lane Stadium on any given Saturday in the fall.

The mourners&#39; chants of "Let&#39;s go, Hokies" reverberated through Cassell Coliseum, punctuated with the rhythmic clapping and repetition that is typically better suited to sporting events than soul-searching.

But in that moment, for those who gathered to find a sense of community when pain seemed poised to take over their lives, those three simple words took on all the meaning of a chorus of "Amazing Grace."

Instead of rallying their athletic heroes to another victory, the Virginia Tech faithful were chanting to rally their own flagging spirits.

It&#39;s easy for us to make sports trivial in the wake of traumatic events, because tragedy always makes us step back and evaluate our priorities in life.

But for the thousands of VT students who are longing for some sense of "normal," today&#39;s first pitch is the first small step back toward simpler times in Blacksburg.

Let&#39;s go, Hokies.

--

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27626">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27626</a>

Patrick Southern

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

Practical emergency ideas needed

Issue Date:Friday August 31, 2007
Section: Editorial Section

West Virginia University, like many colleges around the country, has been dealing with a ripple effect of concern from faculty, students and parents alike in regards to the shooting at Virginia Tech earlier this year.

A report, commissioned by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine yesterday, revealed the failings of the Virginia Tech response to the situation.

Earlier this week, The Daily Athenaeum ran a story about our college considering a variety of crisis options, including one widely thrown around by the media: text messaging.

According to the Aug. 24 article, "Chief Bob Roberts of WVU&#39;s Department of Public Safety, the University may try mass text messaging, siren alerts, video displays and safety awareness programs."

"We are currently trying to evaluate how we would put this all together," Roberts said in the article. The communication and notification committee are going to meet together to discuss final issues regarding these plans."

While it is important that the University and its law enforcement officials corroborate on ideas to better alert and inform the WVU community about possible dangers, it is also necessary that we take a step back and encourage truly practical ideas, designed not for flashiness but for mass utilization and for the clearest, most direct announcement of danger.

While text messaging is a great idea, some cell phones and carriers have reputations for messages arriving days late. Additionally, not everybody has them.

Plastering LCD screens everywhere on campus that will regularly need replacing, the visibility of such screens may be too low to properly alert everyone.

The University could most benefit from a University-wide speaker system, an idea highlighted in the DA article.

A centralized speaker system that could be piped into classrooms, much like those in K-12 schoolrooms, could easily be channeled into the PRT and its stations (which are both already equipped with its own radio system), and in the open areas between buildings. This would be an effective way to alert those in danger and issue appropriate lockdown procedures.

It is the unfortunate gain of the rest of us in the college community throughout rest of the country - that we are able to reassess our handicaps and flaws in regards to our emergency response systems.

It is also unfortunate that it is left up to national situations like the shooting at Virginia Tech to spearhead such movements.

Those that perished on April 16 paid the ultimate price, in part, due to "missed opportunities" to seize gunman Cho.

Let us hope that we, as colleges, are able to learn from this tragedy, and are able to avoid our own "missed opportunities" if, God forbid, anything like the tragic events at Virginia Tech should happen here.

--

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=29638">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=29638</a>

Editorial Staff

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

Sign up for new text alert system

Issue Date:Monday October 15, 2007
Section: Editorial Section

Six months after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, West Virginia University and others institutions across the country have taken positive steps to reevaluate their security approaches, but there is still work to be done.

On Friday, the University president, student body president and head of the campus police announced a new system to send text messages and e-mail alerts in the case of crimes, weather delays and closures, and other emergencies at WVU. Everyone is encouraged to sign up now for the service at <a href="http://emergency.wvu.edu">http://emergency.wvu.edu</a>.

University President Mike Garrison has a history of emphasizing security at WVU. When he was president of the student body in the early 1990s, he worked on lighting issues around campus, as well as block captains and watch programs in Sunnyside. And now, as president, he is moving in the right direction.

But the system doesn&#39;t solve everything.

The University has a history of suppressing the true number of crimes it is required by federal law to report. Three years ago, Security on Campus, Inc., a watchdog group, filed a federal complaint against WVU for crime misreporting and said the University&#39;s behavior represented "the worst case of corruption we have encountered to date."

Hopefully all the problems have been worked out. But it&#39;s hard to be sure if the University is doing better or worse on campus safety issues if we can&#39;t rely on figures from the past.

Nor has the administration made good choices about weather cancellations and delays. In March, the University canceled classes for a snowstorm only after power had been lost and restored on the Evansdale Campus, the PRT had been unreliable or shut down, buses ran behind schedule and professors and students endured a dangerous day of trying to make it to class or sitting in nearly empty classrooms.

These are not things that a new text system will solve - this is decision-making and the decision about what to do in a situation has nothing to do with the ability to announce it.

Hopefully no one ever gets a message that there is a fire or shooting. But, if the unfortunate should happen, the language of the text should be as clear and concise as possible.

Casual text message language, replacing numbers for letters and abbreviations that don&#39;t make sense should be avoided.

Remember that officials at Virginia Tech said their campus was safe after the first death in the morning. Then there were 31 more.

It&#39;s good that the University has entered a new era and is getting in touch with students via the medium of our time. We just hope they also change their approach and utilize this new message system properly.

--

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=30553">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=30553</a>

Editorial Staff

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

WVU mourns

Issue Date:Thursday April 19, 2007
Section: HeadLine News Section
By Tricia Fulks, Staff Writer

There was an overwhelming turnout at Wednesday night&#39;s vigil in Woodburn Circle for those lost in Monday&#39;s tragedy at Virginia Tech.

The event was hosted by the Student Government Association.

President David Hardesty offered some remarks to all that gathered.

"Any explanation we may offer may seem inadequate ... we must not give up hope for a better world," he said. "Violence can erupt in even the most peaceful of places ... each one of you is precious to your family and friends and to this University and to the future of this nation."

Students have been showing their support throughout the week since the tragedy took place Monday in Blacksburg, Va.

Jason Parsons, SGA vice president, said the student response has been poignant since Monday. As of Tuesday, more than 800 electronic cards and 350 hand-written cards were sent to the Virginia Tech campus from students at WVU.

On Wednesday SGA set out banners for the campus community to sign and to send messages of hope to those affected at Virginia Tech. Parsons said two banners were filled, and SGA members handed out over 1,000 maroon and orange ribbons for students to show their support for the Hokies.

"It&#39;s been amazing to see the hearts of students on campus," Parsons said.

The Center for Civic Engagement has also played a big part in sending thoughts and prayers to the students and faculty at Virginia Tech.

Brett White, the administrative assistant of the Center for Civic Engagement, said besides helping SGA plan Wednesday night&#39;s vigil, they also have a booth set up in the Mountainlair for students to write their messages on index cards. The cards, which read "From Your Mountaineer Friends," will be sent by the Center of Civic Engagement to the Virginia Tech campus.

But perhaps the most moving part of the week was Wednesday night&#39;s service. Over 3500 students and Morgantown residents gathered outside Woodburn Hall and held candles to honor the victims and their families of the Virginia Tech massacre.

SGA President David Kirkpatrick welcomed the crowd. Then there was a moment of silence.

At exactly 9 p.m., three chimes rang from the bell of the U.S.S. West Virginia which sits outside Oglebay Hall and is used as a memorial to students who have died.

"We hope that tonight&#39;s vigil, through words and music and reflection, begins healing," Kirkpatrick said.

"Thirty-three men and women lost their lives in Blacksburg on Monday, and tonight our heartfelt prayers go out to the families," Parsons said.

He then introduced Seyran Celik, a Morgantown resident who attends Virginia Tech.

Celik shared her story from Monday with the crowd, saying through tears that she lost two friends that day. She said she has received numerous e-mails from friends and family at WVU with the same recurring sentence: "WVU stands with VT."

"I am honored that West Virginia University has become an extension to the Virginia Tech family," Celik said.

Kasey Hott, a journalism major and the Mountaineer Idol winner, and Justin Johnson, a history major, sang "There You&#39;ll Be."

Kirkpatrick then gave closing remarks, letting students and faculty know activities will take place throughout the rest of the week for the WVU campus to continue their loving support to the Virginia Tech community.

tricia.fulks@mail.wvu.edu

--

Photo by:Billy Wolfe

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27613">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27613</a>

Tricia Fulks (Author)/Billy Wolfe (Photo)

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

Virginia Tech vigil held on campus today

Issue Date:Wednesday April 18, 2007
Section: State & Local Section

The Student Government Association is hosting a candlelight vigil tonight to mourn the April 16 tragedy at Virginia Tech.

Monday&#39;s massacre at Virginia Tech began at a residence hall and moved across campus to Norris Hall, the university&#39;s engineering building, leaving 33 people dead and many injured. The shooting is considered the worst mass killing in U.S. history.

Throughout the day, students can send messages of hope on a banner in the Mountainlair. SGA will also be handing out orange and maroon ribbons, in support for Virginia Tech, according to a press release.

The vigil will then take place tonight at 9 p.m. in Woodburn Circle, weather permitting.

"We want to do our part on our campus to extend our condolences to those and their families at Virginia Tech," said SGA Vice President Jason Parsons. "We encourage all students and those in the community to come out."

SGA President David Kirkpatrick and President David C. Hardesty are scheduled to speak.

— tmf

--

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27582">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27582</a>

tmf

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

Our hearts go out to those at VT

ssue Date:Tuesday April 17, 2007
Section: Editorial Section

By Monday afternoon, the nation was shocked by the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech.

At least 32 people were killed and more than 20 were left wounded in the nation&#39;s most violent school shooting ever.

Though the campus of West Virginia University did not directly experience the tragedy, Mountaineer students found themselves anxious and alarmed as the news spread across the country. Some were distracted from their studies, while others waited with bated breath to hear word from their Hokie friends.

Every student on every college campus is affected when an event like this occurs.

As Virginia Tech mourns the loss of its students in the coming days, and some continue to mourn for many years to come, the staff of The Daily Athenaeum sends out our thoughts and sympathy to those who lost loved ones in Monday&#39;s shooting.

When an event like this occurs, no matter what college campus you call home, you are taken out of your comfort zone. It&#39;s hard to fathom what Virginia Tech students, staff, faculty and families are going through.

As a peer institution and ultimately a friend of Virginia Tech, we hope that they will be able to mend after such a horrifying occurrence.

As the end of the semester draws near, it is hard enough to deal with the stress of classes, projects and final exams. Now, Virginia Tech students will be faced with even bigger obstacles.

While we go through the next few weeks, take the time to remember those who were lost in this unspeakable tragedy. Enjoy every day, and take time to tell your friends and family that you care about them.

It&#39;s unfortunate, but sometimes we are so wrapped up with our daily lives that it takes an event like this to bring us back to reality and remind us to be thankful.

Again, our hearts and thoughts go out to those affected by the shooting. We will continue to think about you as we undergo the mourning process alongside college students across the nation.

--

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27549">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27549</a>

Editorial Staff

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

Web site commemorates those lost in Virginia Tech tragedy

Issue Date:Thursday April 26, 2007
Section: HeadLine News Section
Angela Moscaritolo, Staff Writer

Three West Virginia University journalism students are putting together a memorial Web site for Virginia Tech.

Stephen Matthews, Missy Brown and Andy Smith traveled to Virginia Tech last week to cover the tragedy for a Web site to honor the victims.

"Our mission is to tell the story of the students that were there," Matthews said.

The Web site will focus on the victims and their friends and families. There will be no coverage of the killer as part of the Web site, Matthews said.

The night before their drive to Virginia Tech, Matthews and Brown searched the Internet for contacts. Matthews heard back from the best friend of victim Ross Alameddine.

"I&#39;ve honestly never heard someone&#39;s voice who was so disturbed," Matthews said.

When they got to the Virginia Tech campus, Matthews, Brown and Smith were met with a flood of other media. They saw stations covering the tragedy from Spain, Russia, Canada and more, Matthews said.

On campus there were "hundreds upon hundreds" of flowers and signatures filling large white poster boards, Brown said. Also, no one ever spoke above a whisper, Matthews added.

They saw inspirational messages sent from other colleges, such as New York University and Auburn University.

"That just shows that it&#39;s affected all schools," said Matthews.

The three students took audio and video recordings along with still photography for the multimedia Web site.

Matthews, Brown and Smith are aiming to complete the Web site by May 13 but because of finals, the deadline for the project may get pushed back.

Through their experience at Virginia Tech, Matthews, Brown and Smith said they learned real-world lessons about journalism. Smith was shooting photographs of the campus and came across Virginia Tech students crying in front of Norris Hall. He made an ethical decision not to take photos of the students.

"The last thing they needed was a guy sticking a camera in their face," Smith said.

--

Photo By: Andy Smith

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27796">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27796</a>

Angela Moscaritolo (Author)/Andy Smith (Photo)

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

When tragedy is for sale, it isn’t tragic enough

Issue Date:Tuesday April 17, 2007
Section: Editorial Section
Ry Rivard, City Editor

By the end of the Monday it was obvious that the media had begun selling the day&#39;s horrors at Virginia Tech. No matter the gravity or magnitude of a tragedy, this country&#39;s commentators veer from events as they are, in and of themselves horrible, to a decontextualized, surreal account of things so they can be sold to and consumed by us.

The shooting - the deadliest shooting in American history - quickly became, for some people, another chance to make various political points. It became, by the time Wolf Blitzer&#39;s show aired, a sort of tragic-porn, a way for the media to provoke rather than inform. Commentators tried to politicize it, politicians tried to comment on it, the news channels tried to heighten the drama with their usual parade of loud music and epic comparisons, "This is worse than ... " or "This is the biggest ... " Was what happened not enough in and of itself?

Glenn Reynolds, law professor at University of Tennessee, quickly posted a 52-page paper on his popular Weblog arguing that the best way to prevent shootings like Monday&#39;s is to permit concealed handguns. It was the day&#39;s most academic approach to the event, but it was also one of the most callous.

Written by two economists, the paper concluded that "the only policy factor to influence multiple victim public shootings is the passage of concealed handgun laws." Reynolds and several others who followed his lead took the deaths of 33 students to advance an agenda which, although done in an attempt to stop such events in the future, made them into a policy argument.

Similarly, the Drudge Report, a conservative news site, dragged out a fourth-month old story from Roanoke Times about failed piece of legislation that would have permitted concealed handguns.

It reported, "Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was defeated. &#39;I&#39;m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly&#39;s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.&#39;"

The point was: if students hadn&#39;t had to wait for the police to arrive, Monday&#39;s shootings would have been an incident and not a tragedy. The effect of their ill-made point was that gun control advocates were somehow responsible for the shooting.

In response, the Huffington Post highlighted a story that the White House affirmed the "president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms." Their point: if only there had been a law against carrying weapons (and there is - VT&#39;s handbook doesn&#39;t permit guns on campus), this wouldn&#39;t have happened. The effect of that point was that somehow the Second Amendment or the Bush Administration was responsible for the shooting.

The politicians, meanwhile, all took care to come out and say how horrible the events were. Perhaps they thought if they didn&#39;t grandstand on TV with their condolences, someone might mistake their silence for support?

The news channels proved again that constant, breathless coverage undermines the fundamental tragedy, horror and fact of an event. CNN escalated its description of the shootings from "monumental" to a "rampage" to a "massacre," to a "bloodbath," as if their appellations signified anything but their desire to sell the story.

By Monday evening, each station had begun saying as often as possible how tragic the obvious tragedy was, and how horrible the horror was - and at the same time they plugged their own brand: "Stay tuned to us for ... " For what? For whatever scarce news they could pry from any student on the VT campus they could pull aside and, occasionally, attempt to provoke into more tears with probing, useless questions.

CNN kept mentioning their "I Reporters," which is their way of saying "people who sent us pictures from their cell phones."

If the media&#39;s reaction Monday was a sign of the American psyche, we are a country that cannot understand an event outside of a political framework, and we are a country that cannot understand an event as it is.

There were two terrible but - compared to the media&#39;s carnival barker commentary - honest accounts from Monday. The first was cell phone video footage taken outside the building of the shootings that captured the sounds of 27 shots being fired, presumably into somebody. It was replayed and replayed and, after a while, it became a selling point for CNN rather than a way to describe the day&#39;s events.

The second account, reminiscent of Sept. 11, came from a student who told ABC News, "Everyone started panicking and jumping out the window."

But there is nothing anyone can say that makes it make sense, so, from Lord Byron:

And thou art dead, as young and fair

As aught of mortal birth;

And form so soft, and charms so rare,

Too soon return&#39;d to Earth!

Though Earth receiv&#39;d them in her

bed,

And o&#39;er the spot the crowd may

tread

In carelessness or mirth,

There is an eye which could not brook

A moment on that grave to look.

--

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27550">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=27550</a>

Ry Rivard

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng

Virginia Tech panel recommends security solutions for colleges

Issue Date:Friday September 7, 2007
Section: HeadLine News Section
By Kellen Henry, Staff Writer

Many students gathered for candlelight vigils and wore ribbons in support of Virginia Tech after the April 16 shooting. While most students did not fear for their lives on campus, they realized such a tragedy could just as easily occur in Morgantown.

Last week, a panel appointed by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine reported findings on the shooting rampage by student Seung-Hui Cho that killed 32 people in Blacksburg, Va.

The report presented more than 70 recommendations to advise law enforcement, school officials and medical personnel.

They also intended to help other colleges choose proper security solutions for their own campuses.

This week, West Virginia University officials announced a plan to send mass text messages in an emergency. The University will also provide better quality lighting in key pedestrian areas such as sidewalks between the Downtown Library Complex, the Mountainlair, the PRT and residence halls.

The panels&#39; report criticized Virginia Tech&#39;s emergency response plan because it lacked guidelines for a shooter scenario and did not allow police to play a major role in emergency decision making.

"We don&#39;t see that as an issue here at WVU. As the first responders here, it makes sense for us to have an active role," said Chief Bob Roberts of the University Department of Public Safety.

Administrators here began revising its policies in December 2005 to align it with the federal Department of Homeland Security&#39;s National Incident Management System. The University&#39;s new plan will be unveiled in October said Becky Lofstead, executive director of internal communications.

It will include emergency training for students and staff and job action checklists. There is a Web site planned for relaying emergency information, Lofstead said.

At Virginia Tech, police had no means of sending emergency alerts themselves and also failed to warn the administration that a gunman could still be loose on campus.

The initial emergency e-mail and phone alerts to students and staff came too late and were too vague to be effective, the report found.

"Warning the students, faculty and staff might have made a difference," the panel wrote. "So the earlier and clearer the warning, the more chance an individual had of surviving."

With a large student body sprawling between two campuses, WVU sees the dire need to refine its emergency alert system.

The Tech panel advised a multi-level alert, for instance alert sirens that signal students to check texts or e-mails for emergency updates.

The Virginia Tech shootings also reinforced the importance of solid mental health care for students and faculty.

The panel found that university and health officials did not coordinate information and intervene efficiently after concerns surfaced about the shooter.

"No one knew all the information and no one connected all the dots," the report said.

WVU&#39;s Carruth Center for Counseling already tries to communicate information while protecting privacy, said director Catherine Yura. A crisis committee joins counselors with resident life, police and student affairs representatives.

"What we do is discuss situations that come up and try to understand if it is something to be concerned about," Yura said.

kellen.henry@mail.wvu.edu

--

Original Source: The Daily Athenaeum
<a href="http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=29759">http://www.da.wvu.edu/show_article.php?&story_id=29759</a>

Kellen Henry

2008-02-18

Kacey Beddoes

Leann Ray <Leann.Ray@mail.wvu.edu>

eng